“Mrs. Bobster’s mysterious friend,” giggled Agnes. “See his shadow on the curtain?”
“And he’s sitting there with his hat on,” murmured Neale.
But it was Ruth who saw the other—and more important—shadow. This was the figure of a tall man slipping along the outer side of Mrs. Bobster’s picket fence. It was this shadow at which Tom Jonah was growling.
The man came to the gate, opened it softly, and stole in. His furtive movements gave the big dog his cue. He leaped forward, barking vociferously, leaped the fence, and followed the running figure around the corner of the house.
Mrs. Bobster shrieked—the young folk outside could hear her. But her “company” did not move. He still sat there with his derby hat on.
The boys started after the dog. The girls stood, clinging to one another’s hands, at the corner of the fence.
From around the house appeared another running figure; but this was a girl. She flung herself headlong over the fence, and her skirt caught on a picket. Ruth ran forward to release her.
“Oh, my dear!” she gasped. “Where did you come from?”
It was the girl she had first noticed in the train with the Gypsy woman—the very girl who had been on Wild Goose Island with Tess and Dot. It was she who had masqueraded as Zaliska, the Gypsy queen.